Flathead Electric Cooperative commercial electricity rates in Montana

• Average commercial price, 20257.82¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs Montana average−34%state commercial average 11.88¢
• Commercial customers12,8542nd largest of 8 in Montana
• Average use3,192 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$250a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+14%from 6.84¢ per kWh
• Outages174 mina year per customer · US average 124

Flathead Electric Cooperative is an electric cooperative serving 6 counties in Montana. Among the 8 Montana utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 9.0% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Flathead Electric Coop Inc.

Flathead Electric Cooperative commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Flathead Electric Cooperative billed its commercial customers an average of 6.84¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 7.82¢, so it rose 14% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Montana rose 16% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 2.6%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Flathead Electric Cooperative

In 2025 the average commercial price at Flathead Electric Cooperative was 22% below the residential figure and 28% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How Flathead Electric Cooperative’s commercial rates are set

Flathead Electric Cooperative is a cooperative, owned by the members it serves. Its board sets its rates, and in some states the state commission reviews them as well. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. What a business in Montana can and cannot choose is on the Montana page.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Flathead Electric Cooperative

EIA counts 12,854 commercial meters at Flathead Electric Cooperative in 2025, and 12,750 of them (99%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 104 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At Flathead Electric Cooperative, 12,854 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 100% of its commercial customers. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds Flathead Electric Cooperative reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing.

EIA records 44 commercial net-metered generating systems at Flathead Electric Cooperative in 2025, with 0.84 MW of capacity between them: about 3.4 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is Flathead Electric Cooperative’s electric service?

Flathead Electric Cooperative customers went without power for an average of 174 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.60 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 886 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Flathead Electric Cooperative serves

EIA records Flathead Electric Cooperative serving customers in 6 Montana counties: Carbon, Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Park, Sanders. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists the Bonneville Power Administration as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.

Other utilities in Montana

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Montana page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• NorthWestern Energy (13.41¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in Flathead Electric Cooperative’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Montana page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: Flathead Electric Cooperative commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Flathead Electric Cooperative

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Flathead Electric Cooperative?

Flathead Electric Cooperative billed its commercial customers in Montana an average of 7.82¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 34% below the Montana commercial average of 11.88¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at Flathead Electric Cooperative?

About $250 a month in 2025, on average use of about 3,192 kWh a month. That is Flathead Electric Cooperative’s commercial revenue divided by its 12,854 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Flathead Electric Cooperative’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Flathead Electric Cooperative billed commercial customers rose 14% between 2015 and 2025, from 6.84¢ to 7.82¢ per kWh. The Montana commercial average rose 16% over the same period.

How reliable is Flathead Electric Cooperative’s electric service?

Flathead Electric Cooperative customers averaged 174 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Flathead Electric Cooperative use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 12,750 advanced (AMI) meters among Flathead Electric Cooperative’s 12,854 commercial meters in 2025, which is 99%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay Flathead Electric Cooperative?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in Flathead Electric Cooperative’s tariff.